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Psalm 3:
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Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 Job Proverbs
Exposition - Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village Preacher
TITLE. "A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his
Son." You will remember the sad story of David's flight from his own
palace, when in the dead of the night, he forded the brook Kedron, and went with
a few faithful followers to hide himself for awhile from the fury of his
rebellious son. Remember that David in this was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He, too, fled; he, too, passed over the brook Kedron when his own people were in
rebellion against him, and with a feeble band of followers he went to the garden
of Gethsemane. He, too, drank of the brook by the way, and therefore doth he
lift up the head. By very many expositors this is entitled THE MORNING HYMN.
May we ever wake with holy confidence in our hearts, and a song upon our
lips!
DIVISION. This Psalm may be divided into four parts of two verses each.
Indeed, many of the Psalms cannot be well understood unless we attentively
regard the parts into which they should be divided. They are not continuous
descriptions of one scene, but a set of pictures of many kindred subjects. As in
our modern sermons, we divide our discourse into different heads, so is it in
these Psalms. There is always unity, but it is the unity of a bundle of arrows,
and not of a single solitary shaft. Let us now look at the Psalm before us. In
the first two verses you have David making a complaint to God concerning his
enemies; he then declares his confidence in the Lord (3, 4), sings of his safety
in sleep (5, 6), and strengthens himself for future conflict (7, 8).
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. The poor broken-hearted
father complains of the multitude of his enemies: and if you turn to 2 Samuel
15:12, you will find it written that "the conspiracy was strong; for the
people increased continually with Absalom," while the troops of David
constantly diminished! "Lord how are they increased that trouble
me!" Here is a note of exclamation to express the wonder of woe which
amazed and perplexed the fugitive father. Alas! I see no limit to my misery, for
my troubles are enlarged! There was enough at first to sink me very low; but lo!
my enemies multiply. When Absalom, my darling, is in rebellion against me, it is
enough to break my heart; but lo! Ahithophel hath forsaken me, my faithful
counsellors have turned their backs on me; lo! my generals and soldiers have
deserted my standard. "How are they increased that trouble me!"
Troubles always come in flocks. Sorrow hath a numerous family.
"Many
are they that rise up against me." Their hosts are far superior to
mine! Their numbers are too great for my reckoning! Let
us here recall to our memory the innumerable host which beset our Divine
Redeemer. The legions of our sins, the armies of fiends, the crowd of bodily
pains, the host of spiritual sorrows, and all the allies of death and hell, set
themselves in battle against the Son of Man. O how precious to know and believe
that he has routed their hosts, and trodden them down in his anger! They who
would have troubled us he has removed into captivity, and those who would have
risen up against us he has laid low. The dragon lost his sting when he dashed it
into the soul of Jesus.
Verse 2. David complains before his loving God of the worst weapon of his
enemies' attacks, and the bitterest drop of his distresses. "Oh!"
saith David, "many there be that say of my soul, There is no help for
him in God." Some of his distrustful friends said this sorrowfully, but
his enemies exultingly boasted of it, and longed to see their words proved by
his total destruction. This was the unkindest cut of all, when they declared
that his God had forsaken him. Yet David knew in his own conscience that he had
given them some ground for this exclamation, for he had committed sin against
God in the very light of day. Then they flung his crime with Bathsheba into his
face, and they said, "Go up, thou bloody man; God hath forsaken thee and
left thee." Shimei cursed him, and swore at him to his very face, for he
was bold because of his backers, since multitudes of the men of Belial thought
of David in like fashion. Doubtless, David felt this infernal suggestion to be
staggering to his faith. If all the trials which come from heaven, all the
temptations which ascend from hell, and all the crosses which arise from earth,
could be mixed and pressed together, they would not make a trial so terrible as
that which is contained in this verse. It is the most bitter of all afflictions
to be led to fear that there is no help for us in God. And yet remember our most
blessed Saviour had to endure this in the deepest degree when he cried, "My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" He knew full well what is was to
walk in darkness and to see no light. This was the curse of the curse. This was
the wormwood mingled with the gall. To be deserted of his Father was worse than
to be the despised of men. Surely we should love him who suffered this bitterest
of temptations and trials for our sake. It will be a delightful and instructive
exercise for the loving heart to mark the Lord in his agonies as here pourtrayed,
for there is here, and in very many other Psalms, far more of David's Lord than
of David himself.
"Selah."
This is a musical pause; the precise meaning of which is not known. Some think
it simply a rest, a pause in the music; others say it means, "Lift up the
strain--sing more loudly--pitch the tune upon a higher key--there is nobler
matter to come, therefore retune your harps." Harp-strings soon get out of
order and need to be screwed up again to their proper tightness, and certainly
our heart-strings are evermore getting out of tune, Let "Selah" teach
us to pray
"O may my heart in tune be found
Like David's harp of solemn sound."
At least we may learn that wherever we see "Selah," we should look
upon it as a note of observation. Let us read the passage which preceeds and
succeeds it with greater earnestness, for surely there is always something
excellent where we are required to rest and pause and meditate, or when we are
required to lift up our hearts in grateful song. "SELAH."
Verse 3. Here David avows his confidence in God. "Thou, O Lord, art a
shield for me." The word in the original signifies more than a shield;
it means a buckler round about, a protection which shall surround a man
entirely, a shield above, beneath, around, without and within. Oh! what a shield
is God for his people! He wards off the fiery darts of Satan from beneath, and
the storms of trials from above, while, at the same instant, he speaks peace to
the tempest within the breast. Thou art "my glory." David knew
that though he was driven from his capital in contempt and scorn, he should yet
return in triumph, and by faith he looks upon God as honouring and glorifying
him. O for grace to see our future glory amid present shame! Indeed, there is a
present glory in our afflictions, if we could but discern it; for it is no mean
thing to have fellowship with Christ in his sufferings. David was honoured when
he made the ascent of Olivet, weeping, with his head covered; for he was in all
this made like unto his Lord. May we learn, in this respect, to glory in
tribulations also! "And the lifter up of mine head"--thou
shalt yet exalt me. Though I hang my head in sorrow, I shall very soon lift it
up in joy and thanksgiving. What a divine trio of mercies is contained in this
verse!--defence for the defenceless, glory for the despised, and joy for the
comfortless. Verily we may well say, "there is none like the God of
Jeshurun."
Verse 4. "I cried unto the Lord with my voice." Why
doth he say, "with my voice?" Surely, silent prayers are heard. Yes,
but good men often find that, even in secret, they pray better aloud than they
do when they utter no vocal sound. Perhaps, moreover, David would think
thus:--"My cruel enemies clamour against me; they lift up their
voices, and, behold, I lift up mine, and my cry outsoars them all. They
clamour, but the cry of my voice in great distress pierces the very skies, and
is louder and stronger than all their tumult; for there is one in the sanctuary
who hearkens to me from the seventh heaven, and he hath, heard me out of his
holy hill." Answers to prayers are sweet cordials for the soul. We need
not fear a frowning world while we rejoice in a prayer-hearing God.
Here
stands another Selah. Rest awhile, O tried believer, and change the
strain to a softer air.
Verse 5. David's faith enabled him to lie down; anxiety would
certainly have kept him on tiptoe, watching for an enemy. Yea, he was able to
sleep, to sleep in the midst of trouble, surrounded by foes. "So he
giveth his beloved sleep." There is a sleep of presumption; God deliver us
from it! There is a sleep of holy confidence; God help us so to close our eyes!
But David says he awaked also. Some sleep the sleep of death; but he,
though exposed to many enemies, reclined his head on the bosom of his God, slept
happily beneath the wing of Providence in sweet security, and then awoke in
safety. "For the Lord sustained me." The sweet influence of the
Pleiades of promise shone upon the sleeper, and he awoke conscious that the Lord
had preserved him. An excellent divine has well remarked--"This quietude
of a man's heart by faith in God, is a higher sort of work than the natural
resolution of manly courage, for it is the gracious operation of God's Holy
Spirit upholding a man above nature, and therefore the Lord must have all the
glory of it."
Verse 6. Buckling on his harness for the day's battle, our hero sings, "I
will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against
me round about." Observe that he does not attempt to under- estimate
the number or wisdom of his enemies. He reckons them at tens of thousands, and
he views them as cunning huntsmen chasing him with cruel skill. Yet he trembles
not, but looking his foeman in the face he is ready for the battle. There may be
no way of escape; they may hem me in as the deer are surrounded by a circle of
hunters; they may surround me on every side, but in the name of God I will dash
through them; or, if I remain in the midst of them, yet shall they not hurt me;
I shall be free in my very prison.
But
David is too wise to venture to the battle without prayer; he therefore betakes
himself to his knees, and cries aloud to Jehovah.
Verse 7. His only hope is in his God, but that is so strong a confidence,
that he feels the Lord hath but to arise and he is saved. It is enough
for the Lord to stand up, and all is well. He compares his enemies to wild
beasts, and he declares that God hath broken their jaws, so that they could not
injure him; "Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly." Or
else he alludes to the peculiar temptations to which he was then exposed. They
had spoken against him; God, therefore, has smitten them upon the cheek bone.
They seemed as if they would devour him with their mouths; God hath broken their
teeth, and let them say what they will, their toothless jaws shall not be able
to devour him. Rejoice, O believer, thou hast to do with a dragon whose head is
broken, and with enemies whose teeth are dashed from their jaws!
Verse 8. This verse contains the sum and substance of Calvinistic doctrine.
Search Scripture through, and you must, if you read it with a candid mind, be
persuaded that the doctrine of salvation by grace alone is the great doctrine of
the word of God: "Salvation belongeth unto the Lord." This is a
point concerning which we are daily fighting. Our opponents say, "Salvation
belongeth to the free will of man; if not to man's merit, yet at least to man's
will;" but we hold and teach that salvation from first to last, in every
iota of it, belongs to the Most High God. It is God that chooses his people. He
calls them by his grace; he quickens them by his Spirit, and keeps them
by his power. It is not of man, neither by man; "not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." May we all learn
this truth experimentally, for our proud flesh and blood will never permit us to
learn it in any other way. In the last sentence the peculiarity and speciality
of salvation are plainly stated: "Thy blessing is upon thy people."
Neither upon Egypt, nor upon Tyre, nor upon Ninevah; thy blessing is upon thy
chosen, thy blood-bought, thine everlastingly-beloved people. "Selah:"
lift up your hearts, and pause, and meditate upon this doctrine. "Thy
blessing is upon thy people." Divine, discriminating, distinguishing,
eternal, infinite, immutable love, is a subject for constant adoration. Pause,
my soul, at this Selah, and consider thine own interest in the salvation
of God; and if by humble faith thou art enabled to see Jesus as thine by his own
free gift of himself to thee, if this greatest of all blessings be upon thee,
rise up and sing--
"Rise, my soul! adore and wonder!
Ask, 'O why such love to me?'
Grace hath put me in the number
Of the Saviour's family:
Hallelujah!
Thanks, eternal thanks, to thee!"
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Title.
With regard to the authority of the TITLES, it becomes us to speak with
diffidence, considering the very opposite opinions which have been offered upon
this subject by scholars of equal excellence. In the present day, it is too much
the custom to slight or omit them altogether, as though added, nobody knows when
or by whom, and as, in many instances, inconsistent with the subject-matter of
the Psalm itself: while Augustine, Theodoret, and various other early writers of
the Christian church, regard them as a part of the inspired text; and the Jews
still continue to make them a part of their chant, and their rabbins to comment
upon them.
It
is certainly unknown who invented or placed them where they are; but it is
unquestionable that they have been so placed from time immemorial; they occur in
the Septuagint, which contains also in a few instances titles to Psalms that are
without any in the Hebrew; and they have been copied after the Septuagint by
Jerome. So far as the present writer has been able to penetrate the obscurity
that occasionally hangs over them, they are a direct and most valuable key to
the general history or subject of the Psalms to which they are prefixed; and,
excepting where they have been evidently misunderstood or misinterpreted, he has
never met with a single instance in which the drift of the title and its
respective Psalm do not exactly coincide. Many of them were, doubtless, composed
by Ezra at the time of editing his own collection, at which period some critics
suppose the whole to have been written; but the rest appear rather to be coeval,
or nearly so, with the respective Psalms themselves, and to have been written
about the period of their production. John Mason Good, M.D., F.R.S.,
1854.
See
title. Here we have the first use of the word Psalm. In Hebrew, Mizmor,
which hath the signification of pruning, or cutting off superfluous twigs, and
is applied to songs made of short sentences, where many superfluous words are
put away. Henry Ainsworth.
Upon
this note an old writer remarks, "Let us learn from this, that in times of
sore trouble men will not fetch a compass and use fine words in prayer, but will
offer a prayer which is pruned of all luxuriance of wordy speeches."
Whole Psalm. Thus you may plainly see how God hath wrought in his
church in old time, and therefore should not discourage yourselves for any
sudden change; but with David, acknowledge your sins to God, declare unto him
how many there be that vex you and rise up against you, naming you Huguenots,
Lutherans, Heretics, Puritans, and the children of Belial, as they named David.
Let the wicked idolaters brag that they will prevail against you and overcome
you, and that God hath given you over, and will be no more your God. Let them
put their trust in Absalom, with his large golden locks; and in the wisdom of
Ahithophel, the wise counsellor; yet say you, with David, "Thou, O Lord,
art my defender, and the lifter up of my head." Persuade yourselves,
with David, that the Lord is your defender, who hath compassed you round about,
and is, as it were, a "shield" that doth cover you on every
side. It is he only that may and will compass you about with glory and honour.
It is he that will thrust down those proud hypocrites from their seat, and exalt
the lowly and meek. It is he which will "smite" your
"enemies on the cheek bone," and burst all their teeth in
sunder. He will hang up Absalom by his own long hairs; and Ahithophel through
desperation shall hang himself. The bands shall be broken, and you delivered;
for this belongeth unto the Lord, to save his from their enemies, and to bless
his people, that they may safely proceed in their pilgrimage to heaven without
fear. Thomas Tymme's "Silver Watch Bell", 1634.
Verse 1. Absalom's faction, like a snowball, strangely gathered in its
motion. David speaks of it as one amazed; and well he might, that a people he
had so many ways obliged, should almost generally revolt from him, and rebel
against him, and choose for their head such a silly, giddy young fellow as
Absalom was. How slippery and deceitful are the many! And how little fidelity
and constancy is to be found among men! David had had the hearts of his subjects
as much as ever any king had, and yet now of a sudden he had lost them! As
people must not trust too much to princes (Psalm 146:3), so princes must not
build too much upon their interest in the people. Christ the Son of David had
many enemies, when a great multitude came to seize him, when the crowd cried,
"Crucify him, crucify him," how were they then increased that troubled
him! Even good people must not think it strange if the stream be against them,
and the powers that threaten them grow more and more formidable. Matthew
Henry.
Verse 2. When the believer questions the power of God, or his interest
in it, his joy gusheth out as blood out of a broken vein. This verse is a sore
stab indeed. William Gurnall.
Verse 2. A child of God startles at the very thought of despairing of
help in God; you cannot vex him with anything so much as if you offer to
persuade him, "There is no help for him in God." David comes to
God, and tells him what his enemies said of him, as Hezekiah spread Rabshakeh's
blasphemous letter before the Lord; they say, "There is no help for me
in thee;" but, Lord, if it be so, I am undone. They say to my soul, "There
is no salvation" (for so the word is) "for him in God;"
but, Lord, do thou say unto my soul, "I am thy salvation"
(Psalm 35:3), and that shall satisfy me, and in due time silence them. Matthew
Henry.
Verses 2, 4, 8. "Selah." (Heb.) Much has been written
on this word, and still its meaning does not appear to be wholly determined. It
is rendered in the Targum or Chaldee paraphrase, (Hebrew), lealmin, for ever,
or to eternity. In the Latin Vulgate, it is omitted, as if it were no
part of the text. In the Septuagint it is rendered Diaqalma, supposed to refer
to some variation or modulation of the voice in singing. Schleusner, Lex.
The word occurs seventy-three times in the Psalms, and three times in the book
of Habakkuk (3:3, 9, 13). It is never translated in our version, but in all
these places the original word Selah is retained. It occurs only in
poetry, and is supposed to have had some reference to the singing or
cantillation of the poetry, and to be probably a musical term. In general, also,
it indicates a pause in the sense, as well as in the musical performance.
Gesenius (Lex.) supposes that the most probable meaning of this musical term or
note is silence or pause, and that its use was, in chanting the
words of the Psalm, to direct the singer to be silent, to pause a little,
while the instruments played an interlude or harmony. Perhaps this is all that
can now be known of the meaning of the word, and this is enough to satisfy every
reasonable enquiry. It is probable, if this was the use of the term, that it
would commonly correspond with the sense of the passage, and be inserted where
the sense made a pause suitable; and this will doubtless be found usually to be
the fact. But anyone acquainted at all with the character of musical notation,
will perceive at once that we are not to suppose that this would be invariably
or necessarily the fact, for the musical pauses by no means always correspond
with pauses in the sense. This word, therefore, can furnish very little
assistance in determining the meaning of the passages where it is found. Ewald
supposes, differing from this view, that it rather indicates that in the places
where it occurs the voice is to be raised, and that it is synonymous with up,
higher, loud, or distinct, from (Hebrew) sal, (Hebrew) salal,
to ascend. Those who are disposed to enquire further respecting its meaning,
and the uses of musical pauses in general, may be referred to Ugolin, "Thesau.
Antiq. Sacr.," tom. xxii. Albert Barnes, 1868.
Verses 2, 4, 8. Selah, (Heb.) is found seventy-three times in the
Psalms, generally at the end of a sentence or paragraph; but in Psalm 55:19 and
57:3, it stands in the middle of the verse. While most authors have agreed in
considering this word as somehow relating to the music, their conjectures
about its precise meaning have varied greatly. But at present these two opinions
chiefly obtain. Some, including Herder, De Wette, Ewald (Poet. Böcher, i.
179), and Delitzsch, derive it from (Heb.), or (Heb.), to raise, and
understand an elevation of the voice or music; others, after Gesenius, in
Thesaurus, derive it from (Heb.), to be still or silent,
and understand a pause in the singing. So Rosenmüller, Hengstenberg, and
Tholuck. Probably selah was used to direct the singer to be silent, or to
pause a little, while the instruments played an interlude (so Sept., diuqalma or
symphony. In Psalm 9:16, it occurs in the expression higgaion selah,
which Gesenius, with much probability, renders instrumental music, pause;
i.e., let the instruments strike up a symphony, and let the singer pause. By
Tholuck and Hengstenberg, however, the two words are rendered meditation,
pause; i.e., let the singer meditate while the music stops. Benjamin
Davies, Ph.D.,L.L.D., article Psalms, in Kitto's Cyclopaedia of Biblical
Literature.
Verse 3. "Lifter up of my head." God will have the
body partake with the soul--as in matters of grief, so in matters of joy; the
lanthorn shines in the light of the candle within. Richard Sibbs, 1639.
There
is a lifting up of the head by elevating to office, as with Pharaoh's butler;
this we trace to the divine appointment. There is a lifting up in honour after
shame, in health after sickness, in gladness after sorrow, in restoration after
a fall, in victory after a temporary defeat; in all these respects the Lord is
the lifter up of our head. C. H. S.
Verse 4. When prayer leads the van, in due time deliverance brings up
the rear. Thomas Watson.
Verse 4. "He heard me." I have often heard persons
say in prayer, "Thou art a prayer-hearing and a prayer-answering God,"
but the expression contains a superfluity, since for God to hear is, according
to Scripture, the same thing as to answer. C. H. S.
Verse 5. "I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord
sustained me." The title of the Psalm tells us when David had this
sweet night's rest; not when he lay on his bed of down in his stately palace at
Jerusalem, but when he fled for his life from his unnatural son Absalom, and
possibly was forced to lie in the open field under the canopy of heaven. Truly
it must be a soft pillow indeed that could make him forget his danger, who then
had such a disloyal army at his back hunting of him; yea, so transcendent is the
influence of this peace, that it can make the creature lie down as cheerfully to
sleep in the grave, as on the softest bed. You will say that child is willing
that calls to be put to bed; some of the saints have desired God to lay them at
rest in their beds of dust, and that not in a pet and discontent with their
present trouble, as Job did, but from a sweet sense of this peace in their
bosoms. "Now let thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy
salvation," was the swan-like song of old Simeon. He speaks like a merchant
that had got all his goods on ship-board, and now desires the master of the ship
to hoist sail, and be gone homewards. Indeed, what should a Christian, that is
but a foreigner here, desire to stay any longer for in the world, but to get his
full lading in for heaven? And when hath he that, if not when he is assured of
his peace with God? This peace of the gospel, and sense of the love of God in
the soul, doth so admirably conduce to the enabling of a person in all
difficulties, and temptations, and troubles, that ordinarily, before he calls
his saints to any hard service, or hot work, he gives them a draught of this
cordial wine next their hearts, to cheer them up and embolden them in the
conflict. William Gurnall.
Verse 5. Gurnall, who wrote when there were houses on old London
Bridge, has quaintly said, "Do you not think that they sleep as soundly who
dwell on London Bridge as they who live at Whitehall or Cheapside? for they know
that the waves which rush under them cannot hurt them. Even so may the saints
rest quietly over the floods of trouble or death, and fear no ill."
Verse 5. Xerxes, the Persian, when he destroyed all the temples in
Greece, caused the temple of Diana to be preserved for its beautiful structure:
that soul which hath the beauty of holiness shining in it, shall be preserved
for the glory of the structure; God will not suffer his own temple to be
destroyed. Would you be secured in evil times? Get grace and fortify this
garrison; a good conscience is a Christian's fort-royal. David's enemies lay
round about him; yet, saith he, "I laid me down and slept". A
good conscience can sleep in the mouth of a cannon; grace is a Christian's coat
of mail, which fears not the arrow or bullet. True grace may be shot at, but can
never be shot through; grace puts the soul into Christ, and there it is safe, as
the bee in the hive, as the dove in the ark. "There is no condemnation to
them which are in Christ Jesus," Romans 8:1. Thomas Watson.
Verse 5. "The Lord sustained me." It would not be
unprofitable to consider the sustaining power manifested in us while we lie
asleep. In the flowing of the blood, heaving of the lung, etc., in the body, and
the continuance of mental faculties while the image of death is upon us. C.
H. S.
Verse 6. "I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people,
that have set themselves against me round about." The psalmist will
trust, despite appearances. He will not be afraid though ten thousands of
people have set themselves against him round about. Let us here limit our
thoughts to this one idea, "despite appearances." What could look
worse to human sight than this array of ten thousands of people? Ruin seemed to
stare him in the face; wherever he looked an enemy was to be seen. What was one
against ten thousand? It often happens that God's people come into circumstances
like this; they say, "All these things are against me;" they seem
scarce able to count their troubles; they cannot see a loophole through which to
escape; things look very black indeed; it is great faith and trust which says
under these circumstances, "I will not be afraid."
These
were the circumstances under which Luther was placed, as he journeyed toward
Worms. His friend Spalatin heard it said, by the enemies of the Reformation,
that the safe conduct of a heretic ought not to be respected, and became alarmed
for the reformer. "At the moment when the latter was approaching the city,
a messenger appeared before him with this advice from the chaplain, 'Do not
enter Worms!' And this from his best friend, the elector's confidant, from
Spalatin himself! . . . . . But Luther, undismayed, turned his eyes upon the
messenger, and replied, 'Go, and tell your master, that even should there be as
many devils in Worms as tiles upon the housetops, still I would enter it.' The
messenger returned to Worms, with this astounding answer: 'I was then
undaunted,' said Luther, a few days before his death, 'I feared nothing.'"
At
such seasons as these, the reasonable men of the world, those who walk by sight
and not by faith, will think it reasonable enough that the Christian should be
afraid; they themselves would be very low if they were in such a predicament.
Weak believers are now ready to make excuses for us, and we are only too ready
to make them for ourselves; instead of rising above the weakness of the flesh,
we take refuge under it, and use it as an excuse. But let us think prayerfully
for a little while, and we shall see that it should not be thus with us. To
trust only when appearances are favourable, is to sail only with the wind and
tide, to believe only when we can see. Oh! let us follow the example of the
psalmist, and seek that unreservedness of faith which will enable us to trust
God, come what will, and to say as he said, "I will not be afraid of ten
thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about." Philip
Bennet Power's 'I wills' of the Psalms, 1862.
Verse 6. "I will not be afraid," etc. It makes no
matter what our enemies be, though for number, legions; for power,
principalities; for subtlety, serpents; for cruelty, dragons; for vantage of
place, a prince of the air; for maliciousness, spiritual wickedness; stronger is
he that is in us, than they who are against us; nothing is able to separate us
from the love of God. In Christ Jesus our Lord, we shall be more than
conquerors. William Cowper, 1612.
Verse 7. "Arise, O Lord," Jehovah! This is a common
scriptural mode of calling upon God to manifest his presence and his power,
either in wrath or favour. By a natural anthropomorphism, it describes the
intervals of such manifestations as periods of inaction or of slumber, out of
which he is besought to rouse himself. "Save me," even me, of
whom they say there is no help for him in God. "Save me, O my God,"
mine by covenant and mutual engagement, to whom I therefore have a right to look
for deliverance and protection. This confidence is warranted, moreover, by
experience. "For thou hast," in former exigencies, "smitten
all mine enemies," without exception "(on the) cheek"
or jaw, an act at once violent and insulting. J. A. Alexander, D.D.
Verse 7. "Upon the cheek bone."--The language seems
to be taken from a comparison of his enemies with wild beasts. The cheek bone
denotes the bone in which the teeth are placed, and to break that is to disarm
the animal. Albert Barnes, in loc.
Verse 7. When God takes vengeance upon the ungodly, he will smite in
such a manner as to make them feel his almightiness in every stroke. All his
power shall be exercised in punishing and none in pitying. O that every
obstinate sinner would think of this, and consider his unmeasurable boldness in
thinking himself able to grapple with Omnipotence! Stephen Charnock.
Verse 8. "Salvation belongeth unto the Lord:"
parallel passage in Jonah 2:9, "Salvation is of the Lord." The
mariners might have written upon their ship, instead of Castor and Pollux, or
the like device, Salvation is the Lord's; the Ninevites might have
written upon their gates, Salvation is the Lord's; and whole mankind,
whose cause is pitted and pleaded by God against the hardness of Jonah's heart,
in the last, might have written on the palms of their hands, Salvation is the
Lord's. It is the argument of both the Testaments, the staff and
supportation of heaven and earth. They would both sink, and all their joints be
severed, if the salvation of the Lord's were not. The birds in the air sing no
other notes, the beasts in the field give no other voice, than Salus Jehovæ,
Salvation is the Lord's. The walls and fortresses to our country's gates, to our
cities and towns, bars to our houses, a surer cover to our heads than a helmet
of steel, a better receipt to our bodies than the confection of apothecaries, a
better receipt to our souls than the pardons of Rome, is Salus Jehovæ,
the salvation of the Lord. The salvation of the Lord blesseth, preserveth,
upholdeth all that we have; our basket and our store, the oil in our cruses, our
presses, the sheep in our folds, our stalls, the children in the womb, at our
tables, the corn in our fields, our stores, our garners; it is not the virtue of
the stars, nor nature of all things themselves, that giveth being and
continuance to any of these blessings. And, "What shall I more say?"
as the apostle asked (Hebrews 9) when he had spoken much, and there was much
more behind, but time failed him. Rather, what should I not say? for the world
is my theatre at this time, and I neither think nor can feign to myself anything
that hath not dependence upon this acclamation, Salvation is the Lord's.
Plutarch writeth, that the Amphictions in Greece, a famous council assembled of
twelve sundry people, wrote upon the temple of Apollo Pythius, instead of the
Iliads of Homer, or songs of Pindarus (large and tiring discourses), short
sentences and memoratives, as, Know thyself, Use moderation, Beware of
suretyship, and the like; and doubtless though every creature in the world,
whereof we have use, be a treatise and narration unto us of the goodness of God,
and we might weary our flesh, and spend our days in writing books of that
inexplicable subject, yet this short apothegm of Jonah comprehendeth all the
rest, and standeth at the end of the song, as the altars and stones that the
patriarch set up at the parting of the ways, to give knowledge to the
after-world by what means he was delivered. I would it were daily preached in
our temples, sung in our streets, written upon our door-posts, painted upon our
walls, or rather cut with an adamant claw upon the tables of our hearts, that we
might never forget salvation to be the Lord's. We have need of such remembrances
to keep us in practise of revolving the mercies of God. For nothing decayeth
sooner than love; nihil facilius quam amar putrescit. And of all the
powers of the soul, memory is most delicate, tender and brittle, and first
waxeth old, memoria delicata, tenera, fragilis, in quam primum senectus
incurrit; and of all the apprehensions of memory, first benefit, primum
senescit beneficium. John King's Commentary on Jonah, 1594.
Verse 8. "Thy blessing is upon thy people." The
saints are not only blessed when they are comprehensors, but while they are
viators. They are blessed before they are crowned. This seems a paradox to flesh
and blood: what, reproached and maligned, yet blessed! A man that looks upon the
children of God with a carnal eye, and sees how they are afflicted, and like the
ship in the gospel, which was covered with waves (Matthew 8:24), would think
they were far from blessedness. Paul brings a catalogue of his sufferings (2
Corinthians 11:24-26), "Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned,
thrice I suffered shipwreck," etc. And those Christians of the first
magnitude, of whom the world was not worthy, "Had trials of cruel mockings
and scourgings, they were sawn asunder, they were slain with the sword."
Hebrews 11:36, 37. What! and were all these during the time of their sufferings
blessed? A carnal man would think, if this be to be blessed, God deliver him
from it. But, however sense would give their vote, our Saviour Christ
pronounceth the godly man blessed; though a mourner, though a martyr, yet
blessed. Job on the dunghill was blessed Job. The saints are blessed when they
are cursed. Shimei did curse David (2 Samuel 16:5), "He came forth and
cursed him;" yet when he was cursed David he was blessed David. The saints
though they are bruised, yet they are blessed. Not only they shall be blessed,
but they are so. Psalm 119:1. "Blessed are the undefiled." Psalm 3:8. "Thy
blessing is upon thy people." Thomas Watson.
As a curious instance of Luther's dogmatical interpretations we give very
considerable extracts from his rendering of this Psalm without in any degree
endorsing them. C. H. S.
Whole Psalm. That the meaning of this Psalm is not historical, is
manifest from many particulars, which militate against its being so understood.
And first of all, there is this which the blessed Augustine has remarked; that
the words, "I laid me down to sleep and took my rest," seem to be the
words of Christ rising from the dead. And then that there is at the end the
blessing of God pronounced upon the people, which manifestly belongs to the
whole church. Hence, the blessed Augustine interprets the Psalm in a threefold
way; first, concerning Christ the head; secondly, concerning the whole of
Christ, that is, Christ and his church, the head and the body; and thirdly,
figuratively, concerning any private Christian. Let each have his own
interpretation. I, in the meantime, will interpret it concerning Christ; being
moved so to do by the same argument that moved Augustine--that the fifth verse
does not seem appropriately to apply to any other but Christ. First, because,
"lying down" and "sleeping," signify in this place
altogether a natural death, not a natural sleep. Which may be collected from
this--because it then follows, "and rose again." Whereas if David had
spoken concerning the sleep of the body, he would have said, "and
awoke;" though this does not make so forcibly for the interpretation of
which we are speaking, if the Hebrew word would be closely examined. But again,
what new thing would he advance by declaring that he laid him down and slept?
Why did he not say also that he walked, ate, drank, laboured, or was in
necessity, or mention particularly some other work of the body? And moreover, it
seems an absurdity under so great a tribulation, to boast of nothing else but
the sleep of the body; for that tribulation would rather force him to a
privation from sleep, and to be in peril and distress; especially since those
two expressions, "I laid me down," and "I slept," signify
the quiet repose of one lying down in his place, which is not the state of one
who falls asleep from exhausture through sorrow. But this consideration makes
the more forcibly for us--that he therefore glories in his rising up again
because it was the Lord that sustained him, who raised him up while sleeping,
and did not leave him in sleep. How can such a glorying agree, and what new kind
of religion can make it agree, with any particular sleep of the body? (for in
that case, would it not apply to the daily sleep also?) and especially, when
this sustaining of God indicates at the same time an utterly forsaken state in
the person sleeping, which is not the case in corporal sleep; for there the
person sleeping may be protected even by men being his guards; but this
sustaining being altogether of God, implies, not a sleep, but a heavy conflict.
And lastly, the word HEKIZOTHI itself favours such an interpretation; which,
being here put absolutely and transitively, signifies, "I caused to arise
or awake." As if he had said, "I caused myself to awake, I roused
myself." Which certainly more aptly agrees with the resurrection of Christ
than with the sleep of the body; both because those who are asleep are
accustomed to be roused and awaked, and because it is no wonderful matter, nor a
matter worthy of so important a declaration, for anyone to awake of himself,
seeing that it is what takes place every day. But this matter being introduced
by the Spirit as a something new and singular, is certainly different from all
that which attends common sleeping and waking.
Verse 2. "There is no help for him in his God." In
the Hebrew the expression is simply, "in God," without the pronoun "his",
which seems to me to give clearness and force to the expression. As if he had
said, They say of me that I am not only deserted and oppressed by all creatures,
but that even God, who is present with all things, and preserves all things, and
protects all things, forsakes me as the only thing out of the whole universe
that he does not preserve. Which kind of temptation Job seems also to have
tasted where he says, "Why hast thou set me as a mark against thee?"
Job 7:20. For there is no temptation, no, not of the whole world together, nor
of all hell combined in one, equal unto that wherein God stands contrary to man,
which temptation Jeremiah prays against (Jeremiah 17:17), "Be not a terror
unto me; thou art my hope in the days of evil;" and concerning which also
the sixth Psalm following saith, "O Lord, rebuke me not in thine
anger;" and we find the same petitions throughout the psaltery. This
temptation is wholly unsupportable, and is truly hell itself; as it is said in
the same sixth Psalm, "for in death there is no remembrance of thee,"
etc. In a word, if you have never experienced it, you can never form any idea of
it whatever.
Verse 3. "For thou, O Lord, art my helper, my glory, and the
lifter up of my head." David here contrasts three things with three;
helper, with many troublings; glory, with many rising up; and the lifter up of
the head, with the blaspheming and insulting. Therefore, the person here
represented is indeed alone in the estimation of man, and even according to his
own feelings also; but in the sight of God, and in a spiritual view, he is by no
means alone; but protected with the greatest abundance of help; as Christ saith
(John 16:32), "Behold, the hour cometh when ye shall leave me alone; and
yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.". . . . The words
contained in this verse are not the words of nature, but of grace; not of
free-will, but of the spirit of strong faith; which, even though seeing God, as
in the darkness of the storm of death and hell, a deserting God, acknowledges
him a sustaining God; when seeing him as a condemner, acknowledges him a Saviour.
Thus this faith does not judge of things according as they seem to be, or are
felt, like a horse or mule which have no understanding; but it understands
things which are not seen, for "hope that is seen is not hope: for what a
man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?" Romans 8:24.
Verse 4. "I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me
out of his holy hill." In the Hebrew, the verb is in the future, and
is, as Hieronymus translates it, "I will cry," and "he shall
hear;" and this pleases me better than the perfect tense; for they are the
words of one triumphing in, and praising and glorifying God, and giving thanks
unto him who sustained, preserved, and lifted him up, according as he had hoped
in the preceeding verse. For it is usual with those that triumph and rejoice, to
speak of those things which they have done and suffered, and to sing a song of
praise unto their helper and deliverer; as in Psalm 66:16, "Come, then, all
ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. I cried unto
him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue." And also Psalm
81:1, "Sing aloud unto God our strength." And so again, Exodus 15:1,
"Let us sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously." And so
here, being filled with an overflowing sense of gratitude and joy, he sings of
his being dead, of his having slept and rose up again, of his enemies being
smitten, and of the teeth of the ungodly being broken. This it is which causes
the change; for he who hitherto had been addressing God in the second person,
changes on a sudden his address to others concerning God, in the third person,
saying, "and he heard me", not "and thou heardest
me;" and also, "I cried unto the Lord", not, "I cried
unto thee," for he wants to make all know what benefits God has heaped upon
him; which is peculiar to a grateful mind.
Verse 5. "I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord
sustained me." Christ, by the words of this verse, signifies his death
and burial. . . . For it is not to be supposed that he would have spoken so
importantly concerning mere natural rest and sleep; especially since that which
preceeds, and that which follows, compel us to understand him as speaking of a
deep conflict and a glorious victory over his enemies. By all which things he
stirs us up and animates us to faith in God, and commends unto us the power and
grace of God; that he is able to raise us up from the dead; an example of which
he sets before us, and proclaims it unto us as wrought in himself. . . . . . .
And this is shown also farther in his using gentle words, and such as tend
wonderfully to lessen the terror of death. "I laid me down (saith
he), and slept." He does not say, I died, and was buried; for death
and the tomb had lost both their name and their power. And now death is not
death, but a sleep; and the tomb not a tomb, but a bed and resting place; which
was the reason why the words of this prophecy were put somewhat obscurely and
doubtfully, that it might by that means render death most lovely in our eyes (or
rather most contemptible), as being that state from which, as from the sweet
rest of sleep, an undoubted arising and awaking are promised. For who is not
most sure of an awaking and arising, who lies down to rest in a sweet sleep
(where death does not prevent)? This person, however, does not say that he died,
but that he laid him down to sleep, and that therefore he awaked. And moreover,
as sleep is useful and necessary for a better renewal of the powers of the body
(as Ambrosius says in his hymn), and as sleep relieves the weary limbs, so is
death also equally useful, and ordained for the arriving at a better life. And
this is what David says in the following Psalm, "I will lay me down in
peace, and take my rest, for thou, O Lord, in a singular manner hast formed me
in hope." Therefore, in considering death, we are not so much to consider
death itself, as that most certain life and resurrection which are sure to those
who are in Christ; that those words (John 8:51) might be fulfilled, "If a
man keep my sayings, he shall never see death." But how is it that he shall
never see it? Shall he not feel it? Shall he not die? No! he shall only see
sleep, for, having the eyes of his faith fixed upon the resurrection, he so
glides through death, that he does not even see death; for death, as I have
said, is to him no death at all. And hence, there is that also of John 11:25,
"He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."
Verse 7. "For thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the
cheekbone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly." Hieronymus uses
this metaphor of "cheek bones", and "teeth",
to represent cutting words, detractions, calumnies, and other injuries of the
same kind, by which the innocent are oppressed: according to that of Proverbs
30:14, "There is a generation whose teeth are as swords, and their
jaw-teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from
among men." It was by these that Christ was devoured, when, before Pilate,
he was condemned to the cross by the voices and accusations of his enemies. And
hence it is that the apostle saith (Galatians 5:15), "But if ye bite and
devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another."
Verse 8. "Salvation is of the Lord, and thy blessing is upon
thy people." A most beautiful conclusion this, and, as it were, the sum
of all the feelings spoken of. The sense is, it is the Lord alone that saves and
blesses: and even though the whole mass of all evils should be gathered together
in one against a man, still, it is the Lord who saves: salvation and blessing
are in his hands. What then shall I fear? What shall I not promise myself? When
I know that no one can be destroyed, no one reviled, without the permission of
God, even though all should rise up to curse and to destroy; and that no one of
them can be blessed and saved without the permission of God, how much soever
they may bless and strive to save themselves. And as Gregory Nazianzen says,
"Where God gives, envy can avail nothing; and where God does not give,
labour can avail nothing." And in the same way also Paul saith (Romans
8:31), "If God be for us, who can be against us?" And so, on the
contrary, if God be against them, who can be for them? And why? Because "salvation
is of the Lord," and not of them, nor of us, for "vain is the help
of man." Martin Luther.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse 1.
The saint telling his griefs to his God.
1.
His right to do so.
2. The proper manner of telling them.
3.
The fair results of such holy communications with the Lord.
When
may we expect increased troubles? Why are they sent? What is our wisdom in
reference to them?
Verse 2. The lie against the saint and the libel upon his God.
Verse 3. The threefold blessing which God affords to his suffering
ones--Defence, Honour, Joy. Show how all these may be enjoyed by faith, even in
our worst estate.
Verse 4.
1.
In dangers we should pray.
2.
God will graciously hear.
3.
We should record his answers of grace.
4.
We may strengthen ourselves for the future by remembering the deliverances of
the past.
Verse 5.
1.
Describe sweet sleeping.
2.
Describe happy waking.
3.
Show how both are to be enjoyed, "for the Lord sustained me."
Verse 6. Faith surrounded by enemies and yet triumphant.
Verse 7.
1.
Describe the Lord's past dealing with his enemies; "thou hast."
2.
Show that the Lord should be our constant resort, "O Lord," "O my
God."
3.
Enlarge upon the fact that the Lord is to be stirred up: "Arise."
4.
Urge believers to use the Lord's past victories as an argument with which to
prevail with him.
Verse 7. (last clause). Our enemies vanquished foes, toothless
lions.
Verse 8. (first clause). Salvation of God from first to last.
(See the exposition.)
Verse 8. (last clause). They were blessed in Christ, through
Christ, and shall be blessed with Christ. The blessing rests upon their
persons, comforts, trials, labours, families, etc. It flows from grace, is
enjoyed by faith, and is insured by oath, etc. James Smith's Portions,
1802-1862.
Psalm 3:
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